A recent trip to the Oregon coast brought me to the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area. Similar to other areas along the Oregon coast, this was remarkably easy to find. Just a few minutes off of Highway 101, you quickly find yourself parked in front of the Interpretive Center where you can explore 140 years of lighthouse history and thousands of years of natural and cultural history. Just $7 gets you a three day pass to the entire area! Pretty sweet. A short walk from the Interpretive Center brings you to the lighthouse and a walkway to the beach. The lighthouse was unfortunately under renovation, so there would be no visiting and climbing it while I was there. The walkway to the beach, however, was definitely open. The walkway takes you to Cobble Beach, which is compiled of millions of round basalt rocks that produce an applause-like sound as the waves roll in. Walking on these rocks was a unique experience. They crunched together as you walked, making an odd sound with every step (not the “applause sound of the waves rolling over them, this was something else). I never felt unsteady on them though, which was good.
This entire area is filled with wildlife. There were pelicans hanging out on all the various rocks, seagulls, and even a sea lion. The sea lion was pretty much out of range for my lens (I only had a 200mm) so I did some serious cropping on that one. Unfortunately my time visiting was fairly short as I had other places to go (and it started to rain) but I’m happy with the few photos I ended up with. I’d love to go back when the lighthouse is open!
All photos shot using a Sony A7R and the Fotodiox Pro EF-NEX Auto Adapter with a Tamron Zoom 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Lens (for Canon). The adapter didn’t allow me to use auto focus, so these shots were all taken using manual focus (focus peaking helped!).
All photos processed using Lightroom 5.
More information about Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Are can be found here.
Enjoy the pics!
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